


When Life Gives You Lemonade

by bokayjunkie



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Gen, Olicity Summer Sizzle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 04:14:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bokayjunkie/pseuds/bokayjunkie
Summary: Written for the Olicity Summer Sizzle ficathon.prompt: fresh lemonade





	When Life Gives You Lemonade

**Author's Note:**

> Another quickly written oneshot for the ficathon. Not beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

Felicity went over the proposal again in her head as she sat in a waiting area at City Hall. This is an important one and she didn’t want to mess it up. Well, all of her projects are important, but this one is a bit of a passion project. 

After succeeding in the tech industry, she wants to give back to the world, in particular to underprivileged kids who don’t have immediate access to technology. It’s been a goal of hers since she started making a profit with Smoak Tech, now that her career is off the ground and her company is thriving, she feels it’s time to really expand her work.

Looking up at the clock, she sees that she still has 15 minutes until her meeting with the Mayor. She was early, as always, having arrived about 10 minutes ago. She prepared for this, always wanting to make a good impression and that starts with punctuality. 

Knowing she probably won't get to see the Mayor until their meeting starts, Felicity goes through her documents for the proposal, double-checking to make sure she has everything. She was engrossed in her papers that she didn’t notice another person entering the room.

“Lemonade?” 

Felicity looks up, slightly startled at the voice. She’s met face to face with a young boy, who couldn’t be older than 7 years old, standing in front of her holding out a paper cup. She analyzed the boy for a quick moment, noting his dimples with his toothy grin. He’s quite charming and she immediately felt calm after realizing he was harmless.

“Thank you, that’s very sweet of you, I would love one,” she smiles back at him kindly, taking the cup. She took a sip as he watches her in delight. “Mmhhmm, this is great.” it really was. It was just the perfect ratio of sweet and sour from the lemon. Must be store-bought.

“Thanks, I made it.” the boy says proudly.

“You did?”

“Yes! My dad came up with it, I just learned it!”

“Oh wow, this is really good.” she says, emphasizing by taking another sip, finishing the drink.” You did a really good job.”

He preens at the compliment. “Thank you!” his grin is wide. “And don’t worry, it’s free.”

“Oh, well thank you even more.”

“Buuutt…” the boy sways from side to side, looking bashful. “If you want, you can donate money for the Glades Food Shelter.” he then whips out a shoebox, decorated with stick drawings and scrawny, childlike writing that says food bank on it. “One of the people there, Mr. Campos, he lives there and his birthday is this weekend. But the Food Shelter can’t afford a party, so I want to raise money so they can have a party. My aunt Thea says everyone should have a party for their birthday.”

If Felicity wasn’t impressed by this young boy already, now she was literally a pile of goo. This wonderful, kind-hearted young man not only made the best lemonade she’s ever tasted, but he’s also collecting money to donate to the Food Shelter. 

“That is a very sweet thing you’re doing. Of course, I would love to donate.”

Felicity pulls out her wallet from her purse and takes out a bill. She folds the money and slips it in the slit on the lid. While she was quick with her actions, the young boy still caught the money.

“Whoa! That’s a lot!” he says, his eyes wide as he watches her slip the $100 bill in the box.

Felicity smiles at him widely. “I hope that’ll be enough to celebrate Mr. Campos’ birthday.”

“Wow, thank you, Missus!” 

“You can just call me Felicity.”

“Thank you Felicity!” he practically squealed and lunges in for a hug, completely taking her off guard. 

“It is my pleasure.” There’s a feeling she can’t explain, this warmth spreading through her. It’s weird the kind of affection she instantly feels for this boy. How did he charm her so easily? 

Felicity likes kids otherwise she wouldn’t going through all this trouble to open up a youth center that specializes in access to new technology for underprivileged kids who can’t afford these luxuries. She wants to provide kids the resources they need to really hone in their skills and maybe encourage them to take in a career in the STEM field, especially young girls. But other than influencing their young minds, she never thought about them beyond that.

Children were never in her mind when it came to the future. It’s always been a vague concept, settling down and starting a family, one that still doesn’t come to mind. But hugging this boy right now, she feels this maternal pull and her heart literally wants to protect this child at all cost.

The boy finally pulls away, his grin still present.

“I’m William.” he finally introduces himself.

“Hi William, it’s nice to meet you,” Felicity says. “So why are you here, William, and where are your parents?”

“My Daddy’s working right now and I don’t have a mom. But that’s okay cause I have the best Daddy in the world, besides I have Aunt Thea.”

Her heart goes out to this young boy who didn’t have his mother. Questions whirl in her head but she squashes it down immediately. Now’s not the time to get involved in a stranger’s life. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with being raised by a single parent, her mother raised her by herself after all. If anything, William looks to be happy and healthy, not only that but he has a genuine pure heart and wants to help people. 

“It looks like your dad is doing a great job, especially since he raised a wonderful young man like you.” William blushes but takes the compliment in stride. Felicity found him even more charming. “So where is your dad?”

“Daddy says he has one more meeting so I’m going around giving lemonade and asking for donations. Then after, we’re going to the Food Shelter and give them the money for Mr. Campos.”

“I think it’s a very amazing thing you’re doing."

“Thanks, my Daddy thinks so too.” he grins at her again. “So what are you doing here?” he asks conversationally, sitting down on a chair next to her.

“I’m here for a meeting as well,” she tells him. “I actually wanted to talk to the mayor about opening up a youth center in the Glades so the kids there have access to all new computers and maybe take programming classes and things like that.”

“Really? It’s going to be for the Glades?”

“Yes, it will be.”

“That’s gonna be awesome!”

Felicity didn’t think her affection for this little boy could increase, but it did at this moment when the look of excitement and wonder covers his face at her plans for the youth center. How is this young boy so amazing?

“My friend Conner goes to school in the Glades. But he says his school doesn’t have enough money for computers so he has to use the one at my Uncle John’s gym. It’s okay though because his dad works there and my Uncle John is nice. He lets both of us use the computer to learn stuff. And Conner’s smart, like really smart! He just doesn’t have enough money for a computer.”

“Well I want to change that, so kids like Conner who lives in the Glades can have access to computers like you and I do. And also, have people to teach them things to do on the computer, like how to program and things like that.”

“Like… making video games and stuff?”

“Yes, exactly like that. And many more lessons, like how to build and program a robot.”

His eyes widen at that. “Just like Iron Man?!”

Felicity had to chuckle. “Not exactly as complex as JARVIS, but yeah, something like that.”

“I want to do that too!”

“If the Mayor approves this proposal then, of course, you can come. Maybe you and your friend Conner can help me with the development of the lessons we’ll provide, that way I’ll know for sure what things kids are interested in.”

“Then we need to go talk to him right now!” William immediately jumps off the chair and starts tugging on her arm. “Come on!”

“Oh William, no, I’m sure the Mayor is busy right now, besides our meeting isn’t for another five minutes.”

“He’s not busy, he just got back to his office! We have to go tell him about this! We need to have this built!”

“I will talk to him about this, but when the meeting starts.” she was starting to get a little tense as William continues to pull on her arm. She didn’t want to crush his elation, but she also knows that storming into the Mayor’s office with a stranger’s kid is not the kind of impression she wants to make.

“William, what in the world are you doing?”

A stern voice came from the doorway, catching Felicity off guard. She looks up and her eyes widened in panic as she sees the Mayor. This is definitely not how she imagined their first meeting would go. Well great, this proposal isn’t going to happen now.

Mayor Oliver Queen is someone she can’t fully comprehend. He came from a privileged background, practically growing up in the public eye as the son and heir to the Queen family fortune. She’s seen quite a bit of his past antics as a teenager when he took the stereotype of a spoiled, rich playboy. Then there were a couple of years where he wasn’t prominent in the media, only in photo ops that usually has something to do with the former tech conglomerate Queen Consolidated. But after the fall of the company, which also began the fall of the Queen family wealth, no one’s really heard from him or the family.

Not until four years ago when Oliver Queen ran for Mayor of Star City. It was the talk of the town and even reached nationwide reception. After all, the Queen name was infamous in this city and his resurgence as a serious, political man, whose entire platform is to focus on rebuilding the Glades to provide better opportunities for the residence, received positive feedback. So far, he’s managed to deliver on his promises during his campaign. There’s already a significant increase in jobs and opening up more shelters to ensure that even the homeless population are taken care of. 

Felicity did her research on the man and feels confident that this proposal would meet with great reception, she just didn’t know what to expect from him as a person. Whenever he spoke to the public, it was always about his work and the city, nothing much about his personal life. If the subject did breath that topic, he immediately deflects. Everything about him screams professional so she didn’t know what kind of man he would be. 

She gave him a once over and realized, he wasn’t looking at her, he was looking at the boy.

“I taught you better manners than that, young man.”

“But daad!” William whines and things start to click in Felicity’s brain.

She did read somewhere that Oliver is a father, but there’s nothing much about it online that she could find. Nothing more about his child nor any mention of a wife or even a girlfriend. Though, her research on him didn’t really focus on his personal life so not that she was looking for that kind of information anyway. It’s still a surprise to see him as a dad rather than just know it. Then another thought comes to her head, William is his son. She has been talking to the Mayor’s son this entire time. 

Oh boy, this is interesting.

“Stop bothering the young woman and get over here right now.”

“But dad, Felicity’s my friend!”

“That’s beside the point, you are still bothering her. Now come here.” there’s a tone to his voice that left no room for arguments. William’s head hung low as he grumbles, making his way to his father’s side. 

“I’m really sorry about that,” Oliver says to Felicity after William is squared away.

“Oh he was no bother at all,” she assures him. She sends a warm smile to William’s way before looking up at the Mayor. “Honestly, he was keeping me company. He even gave me a refreshing cup of lemonade.”

“It’s Daddy’s recipe!” William exclaims.

Felicity couldn’t help but grin. “And it’s very good,” she says, looking up at the Mayor who seemed to have become bashful at the compliment.

“Thank you,” he says silently.

“Daddy, Felicity donated money for Mr. Campos’ birthday! She donated a $100!”

It was his turn to look at her in surprise. “That was very kind of you.”

“Oh, it was nothing. I’m always happy to help. Besides, this lemonade alone deserves a $100.”

“Still, my son can be persuasive and stubborn especially when he wants something. I think he gets it from his Aunt Thea.”

“Oh I’m sure.” she teases. “Just like I’m sure his Aunt Thea didn’t get that trait from her older brother.” He only replies with a smirk. Oh god, those dimples were doing things to her. What the hell?

In all her research on the Mayor, of course, she noticed how good looking he is. She’s seen the physical changes from when he was a young man being a paparazzi magnet to now, as a respectable politician. The changes were drastic, from the haircut to the body built. She can admit he’s pretty good looking, but seeing him in person and seeing that charm in person, she wasn’t prepared for the reaction she had.

Now is not the time to lust after the Mayor.

“And Dad, Felicity wants to build a computer place in the Glades.” William continues on, not noticing the two adults having an intense staredown. 

Oliver looks at his son, breaking free from the gaze he and Felicity were sharing. “Is she now?”

“Yeah! And she’s gonna teach us how to build a robot!”

“That’s not exactly all there is to the youth center, but that will be part of it, yes.”

“Dad! You have to build it so Conner can have a place to go and play on the computer!”

Oliver smiles at his son’s enthusiasm and turns his attention to Felicity. “Miss Smoak, I presume?”

“Yes, that’s me.” Felicity stands up from her seat and extends her hand for him to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Mayor Queen.”

“You too. I was just reading over the proposal for the Smoak Tech Youth Center. I think it’ll be a great addition to the neighborhood.”

“I’m glad you think so. I think it’s important to provide kids the resources they need to succeed in their passion, especially if it helps them discover their skill for STEM programs.”

“I think so too. My son especially loves the computer program at his school and I know many kids in the Glades would love that opportunity as well. Let's talk more about it in my office.”

“Yes!” William starts cheering. “Conner and I are gonna get to build robots!”

Oliver and Felicity chuckle at his enthusiasm.

“Looks like you have your first backer,” Oliver says. “Will it be okay if he sits in for the meeting? I have a feeling my son doesn’t want to leave your side.”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind the audience.” As soon as Felicity grins at his direction, William dashes back to her side and holds on to her hand. “Why don’t you two lead the way.”

Felicity follows the Queen boys to the Mayor’s office, a grin on her face and hope in her chest. This has just turned into a very good day.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this. Kudos and comments are always welcome!
> 
> If you want to say hi, or give me a prompt, come to my twitter: [bokayjunkie](https://twitter.com/bokayjunkie)


End file.
